


I wish I had your world's potential

by orphan_account



Category: OFF (Game), Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Depression, Gen, friends eventually, it's not supposed to be long at all, lowkey???, mostly just sans and zacharie, or close enough anyway, sans is sad(tm), they're his add-ons, this is just a ficlet type thing, untertale off crossover, zach is bad at consoling people, zacharie has metal wings he can summon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-07 17:40:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13439877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: After the switch was flipped, Zacharie routinely game-hops to keep his mind out of his own decaying world. This time, he falls into Undertale, and meets a skeleton who also has to suffer with seeing his world die over and over again.A/N: this will never be finished. I'm abandoning it completely. Sorry guys!





	I wish I had your world's potential

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to have some interactions between Zach and Sand Undertale himself because their characters seem to be so similar... also because there's no more content for OFF anymore apparently.

The switch is now on OFF.

Zacharie raised his head from the standing trance he had been in as he waited for the deed to be done. The Batter had won this time, it seemed. The switch that had made the world hum with energy had been flipped and now an eerie silence dwelled in Zacharie’s head.   
Many runs ago, Zacharie might have been compelled to go against the Script and fight beside the Judge. Back then the silence had scared him. He had done it once. Broken the rules. And it had been the same; Zacharie, Pablo, and an Elsen nearly burnt out of fear, together and alone. The Elsen had receded too far in their own mind to really be called sentient, and Pablo had only grown more depressed as time went on. It was the same for all Judge Endings.   
Now, Zacharie accepted the endings. This was how it was meant to be. He was a game merchant, Pablo was a judge, Hugo was the creator, and the Batter was the puppet. He had found a way to keep himself occupied instead of staying in the barren world of OFF. Zacharie’s Nothingness, curiously, not only contained the separate Zones in OFF, but contained portals to other RPGs. Today, Zacharie walked to the beginning of the game before returning to the Nothingness. He observed quietly how the Secretaries began to kill each other in a futile attempt to create more energy to hum in the air while making sure everything unwelcome was purified.  
The end of the road had already made it onto the shores of Zone 1. The plastic had risen to swallow the land and the smoke was thick, almost intoxicating. Zacharie decided that it was time to leave here. There was no point in trying to find Zone Zero. It was long gone by now.

Zacharie returned to the Nothingness to find that something had been added. Another world, another game that had just been brought into existence. Not wanting to dwell for long and quick to escape his own reality, he delved into the portal with a small glimpse of the name. “Undertale” is what he saw. Zacharie quickly saw himself falling, into what seemed to be a pit inside a mountain. Summoning his wings would be a simple task, but Zacharie instead decided to brace his fall with his merchant's bag. He soon found it was unnecessary because of the convenient flower bed below him. Zacharie wasn't worried about being found by other NPCs. Unless they were aware of their situation as characters, they would forget Zacharie as soon as they turned their eyes from him. This is why, after a little walking through his new surroundings, he was surprised to see a bright yellow flower stare at him with shock and underlying anger.

“Bonjour” Zacharie said, and it seemed to snap the little monster from its trance. It's face changed into a menacing fanged grin and spoke. “Ooh I don't know who you think you are but I know this isn't supposed to happen. Frisk isn't supposed to fall for a while. You're not fooling anyone.”

Zacharie laughed. He wasn't expecting someone so aware so soon. “Don't worry amigo, I won't change the course of your route. I'm just passing through.”

“Sure you are. I'm not gonna fall for your lies. I won't do the honors of killing you yet, though. Humans always die one way or another. Be sure to get lots of LOVE.”

The flower cackled and was gone.

Zacharie sighed and continued onwards.

♡♡♡♡♡

Sans didn't expect to see a masked human walk into the snow from the door to the ruins. In fact, he wasn't expecting anyone to walk from the door. It was too early for Frisk to arrive, so when he saw the silhouette of someone he didn’t recognize, he was immediately on edge.

The human was about two times Frisk’s height; obviously not a child like Frisk either. They were more muscular, taller, and carried a large backpack with various pockets bulging from the side. A baseball bat was attached to the side of the bag and they wore a mask that reminded Sans of a Froggit. The white of the mask contrasted with his dark, wild hair.

The masked human, instead of walking ahead like Frisk, seemed to know they were being watched and stopped in their tracks. Sans tensed up, ready for something to happen, but after a few moments, they started walking again. 

Alarms were blasting in his skull as he followed the masked human. This wasn't normal. It wasn't possible. How did another human insert themselves into this run? And an adult for that matter? Sans wasn't sure what he would do when they reached Papyrus’ bridge. Hide or fight? From what he knew, adult humans were much more dangerous than children, and not as kind either. He couldn't let this strange anomaly around his brother. 

Just as soon as they reached the bridge though, the human turned around. Sans stopped and stared at the human’s mask again. He wondered what it's significance was and why no other humans in the stories he's heard wore such things. Did they have something to hide? 

“Hello? Mon ami if you’re there I would feel much better if you would reveal yourself. It’s rude to stalk a guest.” 

Sans hid his shocked wariness well as he stepped out from the forest with his usual laid back appearance. If the human already knew he was there, there was no point in hiding. He smiled dangerously. “how ‘bout you tell me what you're doing here first?

“I wanted to see what this world was like. That’s all.” The human’s posture was awkward and slouched from the weight of the bag, but they held a strong presence. It was hard to tell any emotion with their face completely covered. Sans guessed this was what most monsters thought of his own perpetual grin. 

“how about you see what your own world is up to, huh?” He phrased it more as a passive aggressive threat. This human was obviously up to no good, and Sans couldn’t let them get any further. However, he did want to think things through before doing anything rash. Any human other than Frisk had never appeared in his timeline. He couldn’t start a fight without properly judging his opponent’s strength first.

The human ignored his question and asked one instead. “You seem like you have a role in this game, my friend, and not one of a typical side character. What would it be, perhaps?”

“not to be rude, pal, but i’m not really in a position where i need to tell you.”

Another set of crunching footsteps was heard behind the masked human, and Sans panicked as he recognized his brother’s confident stride. He had forgotten that Papyrus would not be bound by the Script to stay closer to Snowdin now that Frisk hadn’t arrived yet. 

“SANS?”

Sans quickly formed various blue attacks that went through the human’s body to paralyze them where they were and rushed over to speak into their ear.

“listen bud, my bro’s coming quick so if you value your life i’d hide in the trees over there.” He didn’t know if he could carry out the threat, but he hoped he was convincing enough.

The adult chuckled behind the mask as he whispered back, “Don’t worry, unless your brother is as aware of the game as you are, he will forget my existence as soon as I leave his proximity.”

Sans took away the bones impaling the human. “seriously?” He couldn’t tell if the adult was telling the truth or not. Their eyes were shadowed by the lip of their mask.

“Trust me, amigo. I’m more truthful than I seem.”

They didn’t have much longer to speak before Papyrus’ arrival, so Sans simply and hurriedly told him, “follow my lead. it’ll be easier that way.”

“SANS THERE YOU ARE! WE HAVE NO TIME FOR TALKING TO FRIENDS, WE HAVE PUZZLES TO CALIBRATE!” Papyrus strutted to the edge of the bridge before he stopped and took a second look at the adult before him. “WAIT A MINUTE… SANS! COULD YOU HAVE FOUND A HUMAN?”

Sans hoped the human’s mask could confuse Papyrus enough to thinking they weren’t what they were. “what? no, sorry bro. they’re another monster visiting from the ruins. it’s their first time here. cool, huh?”

Papyrus hummed and narrowed his eyes, dramatically petting his chin. “ARE YOU SURE YOUR EYES ARE NOT PLAYING TRICKS ON YOU? THEY LOOK AWFULLY LIKE A HUMAN TO ME…”

The human cleared their throat. “I am absolutely not a human. I um- came from a small tribe in the Ruins and I finally wanted to travel, so I followed the only presumably safe path I could and found myself here.”

After a while of Papyrus holding his chin and glaring at the two, he was reluctantly convinced of the adult’s supposed monster origins, and proceeded to introduce himself. “WELL, FELLOW MONSTER. I AM THE GREAT AND COOL FUTURE ROYAL GUARD, PAPYRUS! THAT IS MY BROTHER, SANS.” He turned to Sans. “WERE YOU TAKING A NAP AGAIN? YOU SAID YOU’D TELL ME IF SOMEONE ARRIVED!”

Sans shrugged his shoulders. “aw cut me some slack bro, i already did a skele-ton of work today.” He winked at no one in particular and surprisingly, he heard the same chuckle from before echoing behind the human’s mask.

Papyrus sighed deeply and dramatically before he began to lecture Sans about puns, puzzles, and general ramblings about his life as of today. Sans glanced at the human again and realized they were gaining a lot of personal information from Papyrus’ speech. He had to cut it short.

“hey bro, sorry to interrupt but uh, i kinda promised i'd show them around…” He gestured to the masked one.

Papyrus looked appalled. “YOU? DOING EXTRA WORK? ARE YOU SURE YOU'RE ALRIGHT SANS? SHOULD I COME TOO?”

“heheh funny paps, but i think i’m good. maybe go check on undyne for me.”

“... FINE.. I WILL SEE YOU LATER THEN. KEEP WATCHING FOR HUMANS!”

“alright. will do.”

Once Papyrus had left, Sans cooled his voice and hissed at the human. “ok so how does this work, did he forget everything just now or what?”

The human, who had started shivering at some point, now asked, “Can we speak more in a warmer place? I’m not usually accustomed to the temperatures required for snow.”

Oh right. Sans had forgotten that humans had to regulate their body temperatures more than monsters did. After muttering to them about not to do anything stupid, he grabbed the taller creature’s hand and teleported elsewhere.

♡♡

Zacharie found himself sitting beside the skeleton on a bench in a different cavern. This cavern was of a more humid but temperate climate. Dark, strange grasses swayed with the slight wind that glowing, blue water stirred up as it rushed by. The light almost made Sans’ bones look fluorescent and his smile more eerie. 

“welcome to a part of waterfall, pal. you've got some explaining to do.”

“Ask and I will answer, amigo.” Zacharie looked under the bench, surprised to find an emotionally broken quiche laying on the ground. 

“so, what's your name and gender, human?”

Zacharie laughed. He’d never been asked for his gender before. “My name is Zacharie. I’m male.”

“ok zacharie, why are you here instead of your own world?” 

Zacharie got the feeling he would have to choose his words carefully for this question. With the dulled eyes looking through him, he didn't feel as if he could risk a carefree lie.

“My world, the world of OFF, is uninhabitable at the moment, and the only nonviolent being left alive until the reset is me. I usually escape into other RPGs until it is time to go back, but your world appeared and I decided to come here instead.”

Sans’ face seemed to flinch when Zacharie described OFF. He decided to ask a question of his own.

“Does your world get destroyed often?”

The words were spoken so nonchalantly that it could have seemed that he was talking about the last meal he had. Sans, however, didn’t take kindly to the question. 

“that’s a touchy subject, pal. howzabout i only talk about it if you take off that mask of yours and explain yourself.”

Zacharie almost wanted to just go ahead and leave. When he fell, he didn’t sign up to be interrogated by an Aware. He just wanted to pass the time and view the unfamiliar environment. However, he sensed a sort of unrest within Sans, so he drowned his impatience and began to answer truthfully. The skeleton before him obviously hadn’t been able to cope very well with the cycles of game resets; it was something that Zacharie had taken ages to make his peace with and still he found himself aching because of it. He felt the need to help the skeleton any way he could.

“Forgive me for not taking off my mask, but I have more than just insecurities that dwell behind it that I won’t show to even the closest of friends. I’m the traditional items merchant that’s necessary in every video game. A traveling merchant, if you will.”

“so whaddya sell?” 

Interest was sparking Sans’ eyes. Zacharie opened the bag he had carried with him and shuffled through it, occasionally taking out a few things, making sure to have everything he held seem non-threatening. “I have many items of interest. Various tunics, baseball bats, fortune tickets, meats, the usual.”

“...you keep meat in there?” Zacharie could hear the puzzled disgust in Sans’ voice as he continued, “is it raw?”

“Yes, though I keep it wrapped in a thin plastic so it doesn’t spill over the anything. Plastic works wonders as a preservative. My client is a carnivore exclusively.”

“is all of this just for one guy?” Sans asked. “don’t you have any other customers?”

Zacharie stopped rummaging through his backpack. He didn’t particularly want to get in depth with his relationship with the Batter, but he also wanted to learn more about Sans. Mutual trust would have to be formed between them for that to happen. He sighed.

“I think I’ve answered a couple many questions of interest already. I’d like to learn more about your world as well. You answer my next question, and we can go back and forth.”

Sans seemed to pause. Zacharie was actually surprised how well his mental trust barriers had been fortified, especially considering the trusting nature he found was common in Undertale. He would have thought Sans would have warmed up to him now. Oh well, he thought. We are both cautious creatures, it would seem.

“what do ya you wanna know?”

Zacharie hummed. “Well, Toriel has already given me the basic history about the Underground. You all need the final soul of a human to escape, right?”  
“that’s right.”

“And the human is the main character?”

“you got it.” Sensing Zacharie’s next question, he continued. “frisk is the protagonist, an’ the last human we need ‘norder to free us from the underground. thing is, frisk is only a kid, and a friendly one at that. it’s hard for monsters to hurt someone so kind, ya know? frisk’s got this crazy determination too that helped ‘em free us time and again, but…”

Sans took a deep breath.

“i dunno, i think it might’ave somethin’ to do with the first human that fell somehow, but maybe they just got tired of playing nice. i could care less about the others cause they’ll just respawn after the timeline resets but, i just, i just can’t watch my brother die over and over. i just cant-”

“Hey, hey, hey, it’s alright, amigo. It’s not happening right now. You are safe.” 

Zacharie had unintentionally placed his hand on Sans’ back, in what he hoped was a comforting gesture.

**Author's Note:**

> That's it! I completely planned on finishing this, but it's gotten so old and my writing has changed so much for the better (I feel anyway) that I really don't have the motivation to complete it. Eh, I tried.


End file.
